Performance of goats browsing on <i>Vachellia karroo</i> encroached communal lands and open grasslands in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of season, rangeland type, and herd size on the performance of goat browsing. A total of eighty communal household goat herds from Mbashe and Nkonkobe municipalities were monitored for twelve months. The effect of season, rangeland type and herd size on average daily gain (ADG), body condition score (BCS), body weight (BW), births, purchases, sales, deaths, goat production potential (GPP) and goat production efficiency (GPE) were evaluated. The Mbashe community was regarded to represent open grassland, while the Nkonkobe community represented the Vachellia karroo encroached rangeland. Approximately 1 560 goats of all classes were monitored. Results showed that more entries, births and sales, but fewer deaths, were recorded in V. karroo encroached rangeland than open grassland for larger herds (p < 0.05). The GPP and GPE were higher in V. karroo encroached rangeland than open grassland for larger than smaller herds (p < 0.05). Goat population dynamics, BW for castrates, sales and GPE were significantly higher among seasons (p < 0.05). It was concluded that larger herds of goats browsing V. karroo performed better in comparison to those that grazed open grasslands, which demonstrates that bush encroachment can benefit goat farming.